Blurred Memories
Everything was in brief flashes, slips of memory and pieces that didn’t fit together. She remembered the battle -- well, most of it -- with clear definition. She remembered sitting at the table in Wineport with the Black Mage, code named ‘Mercury’, and struggling with the shock that he clearly knew her name. From the past notes that the Shadows and the Garden had recovered, she didn’t think she was a target: the Lighthouse had seemed to focus on the leadership of the Company. Apparently she had a price on her head, likely from the Yoni incident. It was something she could cope with; she was not a delicate flower by any means.
Then the fight had begun and Mercury’s familiar had slithered out of the box that it was held in. She hadn’t been quick enough and was impaled straight through by the liquid metal, skewered like a pig on a spit to the wall. She remembered the pain of it and her world had narrowed, shock having threatened to overwhelm her. Some breathing tricks and focusing on swallowing the pain, she managed to turn her attention back to the Black Mage. The fight that had ensued had been solely fought by Z’ylarix, Aifread, and Saphyra whilst A’kata had tried to get a shot without any luck. They were, after all, fighting inside and she didn’t have a clear view through a window from her perch.
It was only when the building collapsed did Rose manage to be freed, her blood steadily painting the floor and catching a beam to the back. It was then her memory started to blur, likely from the trauma and blood loss.
She remembered Saphyra pressing some wadded up cloth to her middle and leaning against the small Raen. Rose remembered clutching the Black Mage stone and knowing it needed to get to Mafrea’s custody to take into the archive of items. She had been so focused on getting the job done and trying to keep her weight off Saphy, fighting the gray threatening the edges of her vision. Then Kayne and Emeline had appeared, only to disappear a moment later.
Her memories began to truly break down then. She was trying to tell Eme about the stone and she heard the Chief Medical Officer tersely summoning Mafrea. She remembered the relief at seeing him, though his expression seemed stricken and pale. She couldn’t hear anything above the roaring in her ears and the sound of her own breathing; it felt like she was submerged underwater and it was hard to breathe. She remembered closing her eyes for a moment and fighting to open them, succeeding only a little as Katalin came into her line of sight and Eme disappeared from it. Then her eyes closed again. She had fought to open them once more and found Mafrea leaning over her; his lips were moving. What was he saying? She couldn’t hear him. He seemed so far away and he had that ‘focused’ look on his face. She hated seeing him with that look and she had wanted, had tried to lift her hand to smooth the furrow from his brow. Why weren’t her limbs responding?
Then the pain started. It seared her from the inside out, something sharp and serrated raking through her veins and innards.She couldn’t get enough air. She was struggling to breathe and she wanted to claw at her chest; her skin too tight. Her blood boiled in her arteries, her heart felt like it was expanding to be too large for her ribs and then shrinking to something so small that it must have failed. It must have given out.
Then nothing.
It was dark and cold; she was alone. Was this the Abyss? She was sinking, slipping deeper into the emptiness and she was too tired to try to get to the surface. She tried to reach up for it -- or was it down? She didn’t know.
Every time she neared the surface, pain began again...but she could hear familiar voices with indistinct words. She could hear Eme’s voice, Katalin...there was Jun and, she thought, Adeou? When she fought through the pain and fogginess, the dense tethers of darkness would drag her down once more. Sedatives; she thought. It took away the pain, the voices...and kept the nightmares at bay.
She was content to drift, for now. She let go and sank into the blackness, slipping silently beneath the cool, comforting waves.
mentions: @healeremeline / @oroete / @saphyra-tsuki / @katalinhunter / @junakagane / @gunslingermiqo / @kayneblackfire / Z’ylarix / Aifread
